ARTICLES ABOUT ALASKA BY DATE - PAGE 2

JUNEAU, Alaska (Reuters) - A man accused of killing two Alaska State Troopers who were featured in a reality TV series has been indicted by a grand jury while two other men face banishment from their town by a tribal government over the incident, authorities said on Friday. The two slain troopers, who appeared on the National Geographic Channel series "Alaska State Troopers," were killed earlier this month while they tried to arrest a man on outstanding warrants in the remote village of Tanana.

(Reuters) - A woman from Washington state has fallen to her death in an early-season attempt to scale Alaska's Mount McKinley after getting separated from her climbing partner in stormy weather, a U.S. National Park Service spokeswoman said on Friday. Sylvia Montag, 39, of Tacoma, fell about 1,000 feet while descending the treacherous Denali Pass, likely on May 5, Denali National Park and Preserve spokeswoman Maureen Gualtieri said. "It tends to be an area where once one loses one's footing, it's difficult to self-arrest and stop that fall, so you keep falling," Gualtieri said.

JUNEAU, Alaska (Reuters) - An Alaska state trooper should not have been fired for having consensual off-duty sex with a victim of domestic violence several hours after he participated in arresting her husband, the Alaska Supreme Court has ruled. The former trooper, who was not named in the decision, was part of a small law-enforcement team that arrested the woman's husband on domestic violence charges in April 2009, according to the decision dated May 2. Several hours after his shift ended, the trooper contacted the woman, who had requested his personal cellphone number, the decision said.

By Steve Quinn AU Alaska (Reuters) - Alaska has banned fishing for king salmon in the Yukon River this summer, saying that runs could come in even lower than last year's historically low numbers amid a 10-year decline. The state projected in its species management plan that king, or Chinook, salmon runs were expected to range from 64,000 to 121,000, with the high end still lower than most years this past decade. âItâs clear from this run size that if we are going to ensure the sustainability of this population over time, we need to get all of those fish to the spawning grounds,â Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologist Stephanie Schmidt said.

JUNEAU, Alaska (Reuters) - A remote fishing village in Alaska's Aleutian Islands chain that is inaccessible by land has become the site of a high profile fight pitting the U.S. Interior Secretary against community leaders, state lawmakers and members of Congress. The issue: Whether to build a 10-mile gravel road through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge to link the coastal community of King Cove to an all-weather airport in Cold Bay and, with that, provide access to emergency healthcare.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The second of six U.S. test sites chosen to perform unmanned aircraft systems, or drone research started operations on Monday in Alaska, surveying wildlife, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said. The University of Alaska in Fairbanks was give a two-year authorization for animal surveys using an Aeryon Scout small drone built by Canada's Aeryon Labs. The main purpose of the operation is to show how a drone can accurately locate, identify and count large wild animals, such as caribou, reindeer, musk ox and bear for survey operations requested by the state of Alaska.

Two Alaska State Troopers who have featured in a reality TV show were killed on Thursday while investigating a report of a person brandishing a gun in a tiny, remote village, officials said. Local media named the men as Gabriel "Gabe" Rich and Sergeant Patrick "Scott" Johnson. They had appeared on the National Geographic show "Alaska State Troopers", according to the movie and TV website IMDb. One person was detained, the Alaska Department of Public Safety said in a statement.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. agency that investigates airplane crashes urged the U.S. safety regulator on Thursday to audit several Alaska-based air carriers after a series of accidents over 19 months in which six people were killed. In an urgent recommendation to the Federal Aviation Administration, the National Transportation Safety Board asked for a comprehensive audit of Era Aviation, Corvus Airlines, Hageland Aviation Services, Frontier Flying Service, Ravn Alaska and Ravn Connect, all owned by HoTH Inc. It also asked for an independent review of the FAA's oversight of the carriers.

JUNEAU (Reuters) - Work crews for BP Plc were clearing contaminated snow on Thursday on Alaska's North Slope after a Prudhoe Bay well line ruptured, spraying a 34-acre area with crude oil and natural gas. Just how much liquid escaped from the line remains under investigation by BP and Alaska's Department of Environmental Conservation. It remains unclear whether the leak, detected earlier this week, is connected to a decline in North Slope oil production. BP did not return emails seeking comment.

JUNEAU, Alaska (Reuters) - Same-sex couples in Alaska must receive certain property tax exemptions given to married couples, despite a ban on gay marriage, the state Supreme Court ruled on Friday. The decision in a lawsuit brought by three Anchorage same-sex couples represented a blow to the state, which had prevented gay and lesbian couples from taking advantage of a tax break for senior citizens and disabled veterans that, in some circumstances, takes into account marital status.